Importance of case definition to monitor ongoing outbreak of chikungunya virus on a background of actively circulating dengue virus, St Martin, December 2013 to January 2014

R Omarjee; C M Prat; O Flusin; S Boucau; B Tenebray; O Merle; P Huc-Anais; S Cassadou; I Leparc-Goffart

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.13.20753

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Importance of case definition to monitor ongoing outbreak of chikungunya virus on a background of actively circulating dengue virus, St Martin, December 2013 to January 2014
R Omarjee¹ , C M Prat¹ , O Flusin¹ , S Boucau² , B Tenebray¹ , O Merle¹ , P Huc-Anais³ , S Cassadou⁴ , I Leparc-Goffart¹
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Affiliations: ¹ IRBA, French National Reference Center for Arboviruses, Marseille, France ² Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales (ARS), Délégation territoriale de Saint Martin et Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, France ³ Laboratory Saint-Martin Biologie Philippe Chenal, Saint Martin, France ⁴ French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, Paris France

Correspondence:
I Leparc-Goffart
isabelle.leparcgoffart gmail.com
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Citation style for this article: Omarjee R, Prat C M, Flusin O, Boucau S, Tenebray B, Merle O, Huc-Anais P, Cassadou S, Leparc-Goffart I. Importance of case definition to monitor ongoing outbreak of chikungunya virus on a background of actively circulating dengue virus, St Martin, December 2013 to January 2014. Euro Surveill. 2014;19(13):pii=20753. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.13.20753 Received: 24 Mar 2014

Abstract

Since 5 December 2013, chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has been demonstrated to circulate in the Caribbean, particularly on Saint Martin. This region is facing a concomitant dengue virus (DENV) outbreak. Of 1,502 suspected chikungunya cases, 38% were confirmed chikungunya and 4% confirmed dengue cases, with three circulating serotypes. We report in addition 2.8% CHIKV and DENV co-infections. This study highlights the importance of the case definition for clinicians to efficiently discriminate between DENV infection and CHIKV infection.